Rotary machine with rotating vane wheels circulating in spiral-like passages

ABSTRACT

A positive displacement machine suitable for use with incompressible or compressible fluids as a pump, motor, compressor, or engine, operates on a continuous cycle and achieves either constant or varying volume of flow by both varying the distance of the fluid volume from the main axis of rotation of the machine and progressively continuously varying the volume of the chamber containing the fluid between the inlet and outlet of the machine.

United States Patent 11 1 Rylewski Sept. 9, 1975 [54] ROTARY MACHINE WITH ROTATING 1042994 lU/l9l2 Wilson 4l8/l ll VANE WHEELS CIRCULATING IN :35? g i t ar 1 SPIRALUKE PASSAGES 131111.142 4/1933 Ekelof 4111/57 [76] Inventor: Eugeniusz M. Rylewski, 43 bis, Ave 2. 7 37 A l r C 11L 41 /212 du Gal Lederc 2.250.368 7/l94l Good 4l8/226 7S-St-Remy-les-Chevreuse, France [22] Filed: June 2, 1972 Primary Examiner.lohn J. Vrablik Attorney, Agent, or FirmMorgan, Finnegan, Pine, N 259,213 [2] 1 0 Foley & Lee

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 3, l97l France i 4 7l.20l94 June 3. l97l France .1 7120195 Frmce 71-20196 A positive displacement machine suitable for use with incompressible or compressible fluids as a pump, molszl 418/1: Hg/2 H); 418/25; tor, compressor, or engine, operates on a continuous Hg/226 cycle and achieves either constant or varying volume [5]] 'l Folc U00; F03C 3/00; F04C 1/00 of flow by both varying the distance of the fluid volljgl held of search 418/1 1 2 I 21 ume from the main axis of rotation of the machine and Hg/mu 216F219 220 progressively continuously varying the volume of the chamber containing the fluid between the inlet and l References C'ted outlet of the machine.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 926,731 7/1909 Dowling 418/226 22 Claims, 41 Drawing Figures 42 21 7 1 45 4s 3 I 04 i e 1 l) 54 44 2'3 2" 2s 1 i1- a s/ PATENTED 3E? 9 75 SHEET PATENTED SE? 1975 SHEET PATENTEU SEP 9 i975 SHEET PATENTEU 5E? 9W5 SHEET PATENTED SE? 975 SHEET Rm m2 mwm @mm 14 wwm PATENTEUSEP 9:975 3,904,331

SHEET 8 1 rig-19 905 905 904 PATENTEDSEP 9x975 3,904,331

SHEET 12 fig BF PATENTED 9 SHEET PATENTED 9W5 SHEET PATENTED 9W5 3. 904.331

sum 17 w l/llmmma/n ROTARY MACHINE WITH ROTATING VANE WHEELS CIRCULATING IN SPIRAL-LIKE PASSAGES BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to liquid or fluid handling machines and relates more particularly to certain new and useful improvements in such machines having utility in pumps, motors, compressors and engines.

Pumps and Related Machines With respect to the application of the invention with pumps, i.e., driving or driven liquid handling machines such as may be used for power transmission (hydraulic transmission). liquid transfer, and circulation under pressure, the invention is principally concerned with volumetric vane pumps in which the liquid, admitted through an inlet opening of a stator, is discharged by vanes of a rotor at an outlet opening.

ln most current vane pumps, the stator is peripheral, the rotor is offset in relation to the stator, and the vanes are mounted for sliding movement in slots of the rotor. During the rotation of the rotor, the vanes undergo a reciprocating movement owing to their edges cooperating with the stator. In these constructions, the rotational speed is limited to a relatively small value because of the friction, particularly of the vanes in their guides which increases very quickly with the speed, and also because of the deterioration of the conditions under which the intake takes place.

A volumetric pump constructed according to the present invention overcomes these drawbacks and cong sists of a rotor having wheels regularly arranged about the axis of roation thereof, each wheel being mounted for roation about an axis perpendicular to its plane. For the discharge of the liquid to be put under pressure, the wheels have vanes which cooperate with passges in a stator, whose peripheral surfaces correspond to the paths of a part of the periphery of a vane during the composite movement resulting frm the rotor rotation in relation with the stator as well as from the rotation of the vane wheel about the axis on which it is mounted. The covering of the passages is ensured by cooperation of the incurved surfaces of the stator adjacent to the passages with a mating cooperating surface of the rotor, from which the vanes of a wheel protrude for penetration into the passages.

Advantageously, the direction of rotation of a vane wheel about its axis corresponds to the path of a passage from its end nearest the rotor axis to that remote therefrom, the effect of centrifgual force being thus fa' vorable to the intake of the liquid into the passage and discharge from the passage.

Each vane wheel advanatageously comprises several vanes and the position in which a vane approaches a passage is strictly determined by another passage guiding another vane of the wheel cooperating with said other passagev A rotor preferably includes several vane wheels disposed about its axis and at any instant a plurality of vanes circulate in the passage of the stator.

Owing to the total absence of alternative movements and to excellent suction conditions, a pump according to the invention can turn at extremely high speeds.

The discharge of the pump is regular, thus avoiding the need for accessories that are frequently provided to control the flow at the outlet of the vane pump.

The construction provides radial balancing, so that high pressures can be reached without difficulty.

According to a preferred embodiment, a generally discshaped rotor operates on both faces, each face supporting a series of vane wheels. The combination is thus axially balanced without using special means.

The present invention relates not only to driven machines functioning as pumps, but also to machines functioning as motors, the liquid exerting a force on the vanes housed in the pasages, which, by means of the wheels, puts the rotor carrying them into rotation.

Compressors Turbo-compressors, such as the axial or centrifugal compressors, as well as the volumetric compressors, such as the piston, vane or other compressors, have drawbacks which heretofore have not been possible to overcome.

Turbo-compressors, in spite of their high rotational speed, which requires large, bulky speed-reducing gear, do not enable hihg compression ratios to be obtained. In most cases, the compression has to be performed in several stages. Furthermore, the efficiency of turbo' compressors is acceptable only in a relatively narrow range of proportion of compressions ratio versus inlet flow rate.

The piston compressors, which are advanatageous from the point of view of compression ratio, are too slow, bulky, heavy and noisy, owing to the reciprocating movement of the constituant parts. Previously known vane compressors which are compact, have major drawbacks relating to the freedom in the housing of the vanes in the rotor passages and to the assymetry of the radial thrusts exerted on the rotor. Owing to the effect of centrifugal force on the vanes, the friction is great. The reciprocating movement of the vanes in their passages, does not permit high rotational speeds, speeds which cause unsatisfactory filling and mechanical efficiency.

A vane compressor constructed according to the invention enables better performances than those of the exisiting vane gas compressors from the point of view of roational speed and flow rate, as well as from the point of view of compression ratio.

Not only is the friction due to the centrifugal forces minimized, but reciprocating parts are eliminated. Such a machine is fast, compact and quiet, allowing high compression ratios.

The invention relates to a driven machine for compressible fluids or gas compressor, as well as driving machine, although the description herein below refers only to driven machines or gas compressors for simplification.

The present invention thus also consists in a gas compressor having a rotor comprising wheels regularly dis tributed about the axis of rotation thereof, each wheel being mounted for rotation about an axis which is perpendicular to its plane. The said vane wheels include vanes cooperating with passages of the stator for the compression of the gas, their peripheral surfaces corresponding to the path of a portion of the periphery of a vane during the combined movement resulting from the rotor rotation relative to the stator, as well as the rotation of the vane wheels about the shafts on which 

1. A positive-displacement machine in which the conversion of pressure energy of fluids is obtained by the circulation of at least two spaced vane members in at least one spiral-like passage of revolution defined by a pair of rib members having top surfaces and side walls, wherein said vane members are parts of at least two vane wheels, each of said vane wheels being mounted for rotation about its own axis and housed in a slot formed in a first part of said machine, said vane mEmbers circulating in said spiral-like passages of revolution formed in a second part of said machine. at least one of said first and second parts of said machine is rotatable, the axis of rotation thereof constituting the main axis of rotation of said machine, said spiral-like passages of revolution being generated by a combined rotation of said vane members about the axis of rotation of their respective vane wheels and by rotation of said first part of said machine in relation to said second part of said machine, said spiral-like passages being closed across the top of said side walls by a curved surface of revolution formed on said first part of said machine receiving said vane wheels, said curved surface of revolution formed on said first part of said machine cooperating with a conjugated surface of revolution formed on the top surfaces of said ribs defining said passages on said second part of said machine, said defined spiral-like passages of revolution having an inlet and an outlet and a continuous progressively varying crossectional area from the inlet to the outlet thereof, each of said curved surface of revolution and said conjugated surface of revolution being generated about said main axis of rotation of said machine, whereby the ratio and the gradient of compression or expansion for a compressible fluid, and the constant volume flow for an incompressible fluid, flowing through said passages between said two spaced vane members circulating therein are imposed by the relative position and configuration of said cooperating conjugated surface of revolution to said curved surface of revolution generated by the rotation of said vane members aabout said main axis, of said machine and by the difference of the distances of said vane members from said main axis of said machine during their travel from the inlet to the outlet of said spiral-like passages.
 2. A machine as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said continuous progresively varying cross-sectional area of said defined spiral-like passages of revolution comprises passages of continuous progressively varying depth.
 3. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one part having said spiral-like passages is a rotor and at least one part carrying said vane wheels is a stator.
 4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the planes in which said vane wheels rotate are angularly inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of said machine.
 5. A machine as claimed in claim 1, including sealing means provided in the top surfaces of said ribs defining said passages cooperating with said machine part carrying said vane wheels for sealing said passage compartments.
 6. A machine as claimed in claim 1, including means for biasing said machine part provided with said spiral-like passages into engagement with said machine part carrying said vane wheels.
 7. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vane wheels are each formed of two opposed, identical, longitudinal half-section.
 8. A machine as claimed in claim 7, including spring means biasing the longitudinal sides of said vane members against the sidewalls of said passages.
 9. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first part of said machine is a rotor the axis of rotation of which constitutes said main axis of said machine, and said second part is a stator, which is stationary.
 10. A machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said spiral-like passages of revolution are formed in said stator so as to extend substantially only on a side of said rotor.
 11. A machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said rotor has said at least two vane wheels, said at least two vane members of said vane wheels circulate on one side of the rotor in at least one spiral-like passage of a first stator and also on the other side of said rotor in at least one spiral-like passage of a second stator, the cooperating surfaces of revolution of the first side of said rotor and on the top surfaces of the ribs Defining said passages of said first stator and the corresponding cooperating surfaces of revolution on the other side of said rotor are chosen so that, in relation to the distances of the passages from the main axis of the rotor an in relation to the surface of revolution generated by said vane members when rotating about said main axis of the machine, the volume-rate of flow at any cross-section of the passage in both said first stator and said second stator is constantly changing.
 12. A machine as claim in claim 11, wherein said rotor has on one side at least two vane wheels cooperating with said first stator and on the other side at least two other vane wheels cooperating with said second stator.
 13. A machine as claimed in claim 13, wherein said vane wheels on said one side of said rotor are aligned with said other vane wheels on said other side of said rotor, and each aligned pair of vane wheels is housed in a single slot and mounted with their respective vane members engaged in meshing relationship.
 14. A machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said rotor has said at least two vane wheels protruding on one side thereof and said at least two vane members circulate on one side thereof and said at least two vane members circulate in at least one spiral-like passage formed in the adjacent stator, and the cooperating surfaces of revolution formed on said rotor and on the top surfaces of said ribs defining said passages on the stator are arranged in such a way in relation to the variation of distances of said passages from the main axis of said machine that the volume-rate of flow at any cross-sectional point of said passage is constant.
 15. A machine as claimed in claim 14, including two of said rotors and four of said stators, wherein each of said rotors has at least two vane wheels cooperating with two of said stators.
 16. A machine as claimed in claim 14, including two of said rotors and four of said stators, wherein each of said rotors has on both sides thereof at least two vane wheels which cooperate with a stator.
 17. A machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said cooperating surfaces of revolution formed on said rotor and on the top surfaces of said ribs defining said passages on the stator are arranged in such a way in relation to the variation of distances of the said passages from the main axis of the machine as to give a continuous variation of the volume-rate of flow when the vane members move along said passage.
 18. A machine as claimed in claim 17, including two of said rotors and four of said stators, wherein each of said rotors has on both sides therof at least two vane wheels which cooperate with a stator.
 19. A machine as claimed in claim 17, including two of said rotors and four of said stators, wherein each of said rotors has at least two vane wheels cooperating with two of said stators.
 20. A machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said rotor has said at least two vane wheels, said at least two vane members of said vane wheels circulate on one side of the rotor in at least one spiral-like passsage of a first stator and also on the other side of said rotor in at least one spiral-like passage of a second stator, the cooperating surfaces of revolution formed on the first side of said rotor and on the top surfaces of the ribs defining said passage of said first stator and the corresponding cooperating surfaces of revolution on the other side of said rotor are chosen so that, in relation to the distances of the passages from the main axis of the rotor and in relation to the surfaces of revolution generated by said vane members when rotating about said main axis of the machine, the volume-rate of flow at any cross-section of the passage in both said first stator and said second stator is constant.
 21. A machine as claimed in claim 20, wherein said rotor has on one side at least two vane wheels cooperating with said first stator and on the other side at least two other vane wheels cooperating with said seCond stator.
 22. A machine as claimed in claim 21, wherein said vane wheels on said one side of said rotor are aligned with said other vane wheels on said other side of said rotor, and each aligned pair of vane wheels is housed in a single slot and mounted with their respective vane members engaged in meshing relationship. 